Museums in Cyprus, town by town

Cyprus’s museums don’t have the fame of its beaches, which is a shame, because they explain the island better than any guidebook. Many are in villages and old houses and cost little or nothing. Here they are town by town, with hours and prices where an official source publishes them, and the ones I wouldn’t miss.

Larnaca, the museum town

Larnaca is the easiest, because its tourist board publishes hours and prices. The Larnaca Archaeological Museum, renovated in 2022, gathers finds from across the district, from Kition, Choirokoitia and Tenta, in two themed wings, and is free from Tuesday to Sunday. The Pierides Museum, run by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, is the island’s oldest private museum, in the family home of 1825, with objects from 4000 BC to the 15th century, and costs €3.

Beside the Church of Saint Lazarus is its Byzantine Museum, with icons and sacred objects from across the district, for €1. The fort’s medieval museum is still closed for renovation, according to the same board.

Limassol

In Limassol, the Limassol Archaeological Museum covers the Neolithic to Roman times, with votives from the cult of Aphrodite and material from Aetokremmos. The castle houses the Cyprus Medieval Museum, and beside it are the Carob Mill and the Takis Pattichis museum of industrial pharmacy, both free. The tourist board also lists the Folk Art Museum, founded in 1985 with over 500 exhibits in six rooms, the Municipal Art Gallery, with more than 600 works of modern Cypriot art, the Pattichion municipal museum and the Cyprus Theatre Museum, opened in 2012.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Larnaca for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Village museums

For me, the loveliest are in the villages. In Lefkara, the embroidery and silverwork museum fills the Patsalos house, with costumes, jewellery, silver and a big collection of old lace, and it’s free. In Kato Drys, the bee and embroidery museum has more than 1,000 objects in a 300-year-old house, for €2. In Athienou, the Kallinikeio municipal museum covers the area from the Late Bronze Age. In Limassol district, the board mentions the Arsos folk art museum, founded in 1997, the ecclesiastical and wine museums of Koilani and Kourion’s local museum at Episkopi. For wine there’s also a private one, the Cyprus Wine Museum, in an old inn at Erimi. In the mountains, Evrychou has the Cyprus railway museum, Pedoulas and the Agios Ioannis Lampadistis Monastery keep Byzantine museums, as does Palaichori, Kyperounta has several and Agros the Frangoulides museum.

Nicosia and Paphos

In Nicosia, the council explains that the new Archbishop’s Palace, built by Makarios III between 1956 and 1960, houses the Byzantine Museum and the Archbishopric Library, while the old palace holds the Folk Art Museum and the National Struggle Museum. The Shacolas Tower observatory, on the 11th floor, is open from 10:00 to 18:00 through October, then until 17:00 in November. For the Cyprus Museum, pictured on this page, I have no hours from an official source I can cite. In Paphos, the Metropolis opened its ecclesiastical museum at Geroskipou in 2017. All the capital’s museums, including the Leventis Museum in Nicosia and the Leventis Gallery, are in museums in Nicosia. In Paphos, the Paphos Archaeological Museum rounds off a visit to the Paphos Archaeological Park; in the north-west there are museums at Latchi and in Polis Chrysochous, the Marion-Arsinoe one. In the east, Ayia Napa has the Thalassa Museum, and there are village museums at Avgorou, Paralimni and Deryneia.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Larnaca on GetYourGuide.

My advice

Pair each museum with its site on the same day, Limassol’s with Amathus or Kourion and Larnaca’s with Kition, and every display case will look different. The ruins I’d see are in archaeological sites in Cyprus.

If you would rather go at your own pace, see the car hire deals in Larnaca: the earlier you book, the more cars are left to choose from.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Larnaca for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.